On the Richmond Burrito Trail: Hilltop Plaza's Taquería María
The Richmond Burrito Trail is back in the Hilltop neighborhood, trying to fill out this section of the Richmond Burrito Trail Bingo Card at Hilltop Plaza’s Taquería María.
We noticed Taquería María when we picked up our Denver-style burritos from the new Chipotle a few doors down and made a note to return.
Walking through the strip mall doors, we were greeted with a crowded restaurant full of hungry customers chowing down on tacos and those “wet burritos” we never order. We were also greeted with a line.
Now, we hate waiting, but we love a line at a Taquería. We were so happy to see how busy Taquería María was at lunchtime despite the nearby corporate interloper serving up well-marketed but mediocre burritos.
Hilltop is an unexpected burrito hotspot and is home to two of our favorite burrito locations, El Burrito Loco and El Sabor De Guadalajara.
Soren Hemmila
Soren Hemmila
As usual, we ordered a burrito but asked for help selecting the main ingredient. The order taker suggested the Al Pastor or maybe the Grilled Chicken. We went with the Pork.
Taquería María’s wrap artists filled the burrito with a good amount of finely chopped BBQ pork, refried beans, Spanish rice, Pico de Gallo, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.
The ingredients were pleasant and familiar, like an enchilada plate you ordered from Chevys down the street when you were a kid. Like that big old too-hot-to-touch plate filled with refried beans, rice, pico, guacamole, sour cream, and lettuce, but all wrapped up in tubular form.
All the individual ingredients were good, but the hot side didn’t stay hot, and the cool side turned down the temperature to lukewarm. It only took 10 minutes from when we left Taquería María before we arrived back at Grandview Headquarters weighing, photographing, and finally, eating. This is normally enough time to let the cheese melt, and the ingredients get to know each other. The cold ingredients did mingle a bit creating a lettuce-tomato-onion-guacamole-sour cream kind of salad that wasn’t altogether unpleasant, just not what we were looking for on a cold January afternoon.
We are going to tag the Super Al Pastor Burrito as “balanced” moisture-wise. It was moist and neither dry nor dripping. If we are going to quantify our juiciness scale, it runs from dry, balanced, juicy, saucy to soupy. We prefer most burritos in the juicy-saucy category we just quantified.
The Richmond Burrito Trail Juiciness Scale
Dry: Minimal to no moisture, potentially crumbly
Balanced: Perfectly moist, neither dry nor dripping
Juicy: Meats or fillings release some liquid, but it’s contained
Saucy: Noticeably coated in sauce; can get a bit messy
Soupy: Overwhelmed by liquid, possibly leaking or spilling
Taquería María’s Super Al Pastor Burrito weighed in at 685 grams and came with the biggest collection of tasty tortilla chips yet. The restaurant has a fabulous salsa bar. When you order, they give you three plastic shot glasses, so you must pick just three salsas to take home, a hard decision for someone whose special interests include sauces.
One burrito set us back $17.44. Since we’ve eaten dozens of burritos in Richmond, we come to a few conclusions, like the size and price of a really good burrito. It should weigh about 700 grams and cost about $15. It should be filling but not so much that we need a nap after eating it. Taquería María’s Super Al Pastor Burrito is good but is too expensive and too small to land in the value sweet spot.
Let us know where to eat next, and check back next week for another stop on the Richmond Burrito Trail.
The Grandview Independent has been embarking on a culinary adventure to explore every taqueria, food truck, and restaurant in Richmond. This initiative dubbed the “Richmond Burrito Trail,” aims to showcase our city’s diverse and delectable burritos.
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